By Sambeet Dash
The SATYAVADI School, the brainchild of PANCHA SAKHA (The Famous Five) slowly started to flourish, so also its fame spreading far and wide. Students from remote places, as far as Sambalpur and Kalahandi came pouring in to study in the residential school.
Feeling the need of a periodical to supplement the education given via books, the brainchildren of the School published a magazine named NILACHAL SAMACHAR (News of Puri), shifting the printing press from Puri to Sakhigopal. The purpose was to enhance the poor reading habits of the Odias at that time.
It was this period when Nilakantha Das started NISA ANDOLANA (Moustache agitation). Those days the Brahmins of Odisha were prohibited from keeping a moustache. Either they were totally clean shaven or kept an unkempt combo of moustache and beard. But the luxury of a standalone moustache was a strict no-no for the upper caste Brahmins.
So Pandit Das did the unthinkable. He shaved off his beard and kept a moustache, a style he procured while studying MA (Masters in Arts) in Calcutta. He started writing sarcastic articles in “NILACHAL SAMACHAR”, being critical of numerous superstitions and dumb norms prevalent at the time.
The ‘Famous Five’ fought relentlessly against the social evils, especially untouchability, promoting different castes to share meals at the same location, opposed child marriage and so on. Folks from Southern part of Ganjam in Odisha to Midnapore in Bengal heard his name as a crusader against evil customs and a social reformer, coming with a rising number of his supporters as well as a fair share of detractors.
Being a born agnostic, he challenged multiple customs prevalent at that time. One of these was the tradition of the Brahmin bridegroom chanting a mandatory SLOKA (hymn) on the night of their marriage in front of FUL SABHA (Assembly of the Brahmin -only elites). When requested, the newlywed Nilakantha refused to quote any sloka, though he remembered many of them from Gita (Sacred Hindu scripture).
He felt it was a meaningless and avoidable tradition. One of his less educated fellows – a Brahmin – who got married couldn’t muster any Sloka, but was witty enough to coin his own.
GARJANTE MEGHAM, BARSANTE PANI,
UTHANTI CHENGA, BELA KALA JANI.
Roughly transliterated,
Roar the clouds, pouring in Water,
Tadpoles rise, From their Quarters.
Success creates jealously and rivalry. It came mostly from the MUKTI MANDAP PANDITS (his fellow eminent Brahmins who have a seat of citadel of Knowledge inside the Puri Jagannath temple) from the SHOLA SHASANA (the 16 Brahmin dominated villages surrounding Puri), invariably GODARAs and KURUNDAs (men with thick ankles and Supersize Balls due to Filarial infectivity).
Odias are known to be champions of leg pulling and harboring jealousy towards their fellow brethren who are successful. As expected the success of the BAKULA BANA VIDYALAYA (Fragrant Woods School) at SATYAVADI (Sakhigopal) and the liberal views of its teachers had its consequences, making the conservative pundits insecure and vying for blood and retaliation. Burning with jealousy, they literally burnt down the School Library in an apparent act of arson one day in middle of the night.
This incident obviously shook the founding fathers, but rather than putting them on the back foot it further hardened their commitment. The teachers and student started rebuilding the library overnight, starting with building a makeshift floor using CHAANCHA or carpets strewn from coconut leaves, locally available aplenty, followed by a thatched roof on top.
Upon receiving the news, Gopabandhu Das who was in Baripada at that time, dashed back to school. Rather than being remorseful, he looked calm and composed, with a steely resolve. When asked about his odd behavior at this sad news, the Inspiration-In-Chief proudly proclaimed – “We are going to rebuild our new school as a Concrete building”. Now motivated by no other than charismatic Gopabandhu, the students and teachers went back to class.
But the misery wasn’t going to end any time soon. High winds from a tropical cyclone blew away the makeshift walls and rooftops. It reminded them the urgency of building a concrete building for school on a war footing.
It accelerated the friends’ strategy to solicit donations from the biggies of the time, as a concrete building would cost a substantial amount of money. They included but not limited to MAHNTHA (Monk- in -Chief) of EMARA MATH (monastery) of Puri, Zamindars (feudal lords) and Kings of GADAJATA (vassals with sizable kitty at their disposal).
Sympathizing with the ordeals that Nilakantha Das and his team had gone through and exited by their unique philanthropic endeavor, these haves (rich) with unfathomable wealth comparable to their “have not” counterparts, contributed liberally, all pitching in for a good cause. The jealous act of arson by their detractors was successfully checked by the zealous response of the school staff and students. It came as a blessing in disguise, in form of a School building built in concrete, fire- and- cyclone- proof compared to their previous mud, thatched roof houses – a major development those days.
(This is the 6th in series of recapitulation in the writer’s own words portions of Pandit Nilakantha Das’s Biography in Odia.)
Sambeet Dash is an Odia technocrat living in Georgia US.
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